Final image - A Robin in Winter
In this post I would like to provide some background to how I captured this image. It is a lovely image (if I say so myself) and looks beautiful and natural, and that was of course the aim, but it involved a fair bit of preparation....
The explanation starts in my back garden. Here we have lots of little birds in the area and as we put out nuts and seeds for them they spend a lot of time in the garden. I always have a camera ready, to try and take some nice pictures. The problem is because the birds are wild animals, they don't necessarily land where I want them to... there are always little bits of twig or branches spoiling the picture. In these shots of a Blue Tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) the surrounding branches create a messy and untidy image.
The birds also have a habit of staying in the tree tops, which means I am always looking up at them and that creates a weird angle. It would be better if I could photograph them at eye-level. And it would help if I could direct them to land in a position which is less cluttered by bits of twig and other distractions.
What I really need then is to create a place for them to visit.
I have mentioned in the past about our allotment. We (@dawnsart and I) are going to use half of it to grow crops, and the other half is set aside for wildlife. We have a pond (seen here frozen in the back of the shot) and my partner recently set up some bird feeders and a nest box. There will be more planting in the Spring, but for now the focus is on the birds.
@dawnsart then built a makeshift table as a stage, and placed a couple of interesting logs on to it. The 'stage' was located next to the bird feeders (so that birds might choose to land on it before/after feeding) and opposite the shed window.
Here is the camera lens poking out of the shed window (resting on a bean bag for support)
And here is the set up. The camera (on the left) is near enough the same height as the log (on the right) so I can get better images
And here is my view inside the shed 'looking out'. The netting covers the window so the birds can not see me. Right we are now all set-up, I just need to sprinkle some seeds (sunflower hearts) on the logs to entice the birds to land in the right place and we are ready!
Here is the view of the log where I am hoping the birds will land. It is a waiting game, but its a good idea to check my settings and make sure the pictures look of on the camera screen... the log looks fantastic with the frost on it.
and here is the 2nd perch (a thick branch with one end buried in the ground). Hopefully the birds might land here as well, and you can see the seeds placed on top of it to tempt them down from the surrounding hedges
First visitor is a cat! Go away cat, you're not gonna eat any birdies today, not on my watch!
30 minutes after I scared the cat away, I get my first 'proper' visitor. This Blue Tit was spotted on the bird feeders, but after a few seconds he flew away. Blue Tits (and other members of the Tit family) are very shy birds, it may take a few months before they get used to the feeding station.
A few minutes later I spot this Dunnock, feeding on the seeds scattered under the stage. Dunnocks are ground feeding birds and very rarely are they seen on bird feeders, choosing instead to feed on the floor underneath them.
And at last, the star of the show. The Robin is generally bolder than other species of small birds here, and is more likely to visit the log on the 'stage' than the other species.
He quickly found the seeds on the tree branch...
and then he flies straight up to the log where I want him (or her I guess, there is no noticeable difference between the sexes of this species).
Nearly there Mr Robin, just stand up a little and show off those striking red chest feathers...
Perfect, what a pro!
And now I have a beautiful portrait, at eye-level and with a nice clean background. Compared to those early untidy garden shots, the picture here is just what I wanted.
A quick edit in Photoshop later to sharpen it slightly and adjust the colours slightly and here is the finished result!
A fair bit of effort involved, but I think the final image is easily worth it.
Many thanks to my partner who designed the set-up, you can check out her Post for the images she captured last week.
If you have any thoughts or opinions on this article then I'd love to see your comments.
And if you really like the content then maybe you would like to upvote or re-hive it.
Check out my website for more of my work.